Great Peace

All your children will be taught by the LORD, and great will be their peace.

In righteousness you will be established: Tyranny will be far from you; you will have nothing to fear. Terror will be far removed; it will not come near you. Isaiah 54:13-14

Did you know that the words the prophet Isaiah wrote are describing today? He's talking about us, God's children! We have been given great peace through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have been established through His righteousness and terror shall now be far removed!

I read these verses about a week ago and after meditating on them and reciting them over and over I realized that if God has promised me such great peace then I shouldn't have to deal with anxiety. Why was I dealing with such horrible anxiety when God's Word told me that I didn't need to have any anxiety at all?

We all have fears and anxiety every once in a while but it surely is NOT from God! God has given us peace and security through His son Jesus Christ. So that no matter what happens in our life, or around us in this world, we still have been given great peace! I don't know about you but these promises have caused a huge breakthrough in my own life.

God's Word is so powerful that it can tear down anxiety when it comes. Just the other night when anxiety seemed to be knocking on my door, I remembered these verses and was determined to make His Word my reality rather than the worry. Within seconds of remembering these verses, the anxiety seemed to flee from my presence.

Here is the Amplified translations of the same two verses:
And all your [spiritual] children shall be disciples [taught by the Lord and obedient to His will], and great shall be the peace and undisturbed composure of your children.

You shall establish yourself in righteousness (rightness, in conformity with God's will and order): you shall be far from even the thought of oppression or destruction, for you shall not fear, and from terror, for it shall not come near you.

Isaiah 57:19 says Peace, peace to him who is far off [both to Jew and Gentile] and to him who is near! says the Lord; I create the fruit of his lips, and I will heal him [make his lips blossom anew with speech in thankful praise].

God wants His children to have great peace! So next time anxiety comes knocking at your door, combat it with God's promises. Speak His Word to your anxiety, think of good, excellent and praisworthy things and the "God of peace (of untroubled, undisturbed well-being) will be with you." (Philippians 4:9)

You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You, because He commits himself to You, leans on You and hopes confidently in You.

So trust in the Lord (commit yourself to Him, lean on Him, hope confidently in Him) forever; for the Lord God is an everlasting Rock [the Rock of Ages]. Isaiah 26:3-4

I hope everyone had a blessed and peaceful Christmas! Now let's make 2012 and forever after, years of great peace!

May God bless you all!
~Gretchen

key ingredient to beating anxiety... four

I never truly understood how my own thoughts affected my life until I read what God’s Word said about a person’s thought life. Can you remember what His Word tells us; what we need to think about? If not keep reading because the next key ingredient to beating anxiety is Thinking like God!

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2

You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Isaiah 26:3

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Philippians 4:4-8

You might be thinking, yes, I know these verses but what does it have to do with beating anxiety? Paul tells us not to be anxious about anything but to pray to God with joy and thanksgiving and the peace of God will guard our hearts AND minds in Christ Jesus. He says to think of anything that is excellent, lovely, commendable, honorable, or worthy of praise. We are not to have anxious thoughts and are to think of good things. By keeping our minds on God’s Word, He is able to keep us in perfect peace!

I used to have a lot of trouble with thoughts of anxiety and thoughts of the worst things imaginable happening, and sometimes I still do. Sometimes bad and anxious thoughts just come and it’s hard to think of good and praiseworthy things during those moments of anxiety. So what then? What do we do when those anxious thoughts seem to consume us and we end up playing out the worst case scenario in our minds?

Paul again says to take every thought captive to Christ.

Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 2 Corinthians 10:5

When thoughts of anxiety do come, take them captive and lay them at the feet of Jesus. Say to Him, “Here are these thoughts again Lord. I cannot get rid of them on my own but You can. I take these thoughts captive and give them to You.”

By giving these thoughts to Christ He is able to help you and transform you. He is able to transform your thought life. I’m not really sure how He does it, but I know that He can and will make your thoughts pure but you must be reading God’s Word as well. Without His Word you can’t meditate on what God says is good, pure and praiseworthy. Don’t forget Key Ingredient 2 and 3!

Ephesians 4:23 says that we are to be made new in the attitude of our minds.

Colossians 3:1-2 says “Since then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above and not on earthly things.

And of course Romans 12:2, which I have mentioned earlier, says that we are to renew our minds and not to conform to this world.

This world is full of anxiety; God’s Kingdom has no fear.

We are not of this world! We have God’s Spirit! We do not need to live according to this world because God wants us to live in perfect peace (Isaiah 26:6); He wants us to set on minds on Him (Colossians 3:1-2), and He wants to have our minds be made brand new so that anxiety is a thing of the past!

We all must meditate on God’s Word, take those anxious and troubling thoughts captive to Jesus, and focus our sight on things above. Surrender your minds to God and allow Him to transform you into the new creation Christ has made you to be.

This ingredient to beating anxiety is crucial. I never truly understood how my thoughts affected me until God opened my eyes to the ways in which my thoughts had kept me in bondage for way too long. I’m continually trying to surrender this part of my life to Him and I see that the more I do it the easier it becomes and the more God can transform my thoughts.

Don’t forget to keep adding in ALL of the ingredients. You must have all of them in order to get the full benefit. And of course prayer is needed throughout all of it. I like to think of prayer as the mixer. We couldn’t make a cake without a mixer right? It's the same with prayer. You wouldn’t eat just the eggs or flour part of the cake and expect it to be delicious, right? So it is with all of these ingredients. You can’t have one without the other. Also please remember that everyone is different. You may need more times of praise and prayer or you may need to renew your mind more in order to believe God. What works for me may look different for you. Keep this in mind as you continue on your journey to beating anxiety. (And remember this, doctors can guide you as well if your anxiety is too troubling for you to handle, but as long as you keep God’s Word in your midst then you can do all things! Never stop reading and walking with Him even if some people do need the guidance of a doctor.)

Renewing our thoughts takes time. It takes endurance, patience and a right attitude. You can do it with Him though! With God all things are possible. (Matthew 19:26 and Genesis 18:14) Let's continue to renew our minds so we can think like God!

I hope this ingredient was as helpful to you as it was for me. God can renew your mind! He can and He will! Just believe! (Ingredient 1)

Keep checking back for more key ingredients.

May God bless you all!
~Gretchen

His faithfulness

Finals are now over and I have time to actually post on this blog! I meant to post earlier but kept getting distracted and never got around to it until today. I'm just glad to be able to share something with you all now that really gave me insight and blessing after I read it.

Psalm 91 is one of my favorite Psalms throughtout all five books. It talks of God's watchfulness and grace upon those who make Him their dwelling.

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty Psalm 91:1

Our God saves; He takes care of His children and asks that they trust in Him. Trusting God is so crucial in our walk with Him and it's something that He's helping me to undertsand more and more. Proverbs 3:5-6 has become a great help for me in all areas of my life. The revelation given in those two verses are worth meditating on.

Psalm 91 has always been a comofort as well, especially when I'm dealing with fear. I see His goodness displayed verse after verse and just recently when I read that Psalm, I was given new insight and felt myself drawn to verse 4. Two words came alive to me: "His faithfulness." What about His faithfulness?

His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart

Did you get that? If you're like me then you probably read over that verse lots of times without actually comprehending those words. I've believed the lie that my worrying, my well laid plans and routines have actually benefited me and kept trouble from happening. But that's just not true. Have you believed the lie that worrying will actually prevent things from happening? If you have I hope that you ask God to illuminate verse 4 in Psalm 91 next time you read it.

His faithfulness is what keeps me safe. His faithfulness is my shield and rampart! Not my worrying or well laid plans. I also know that if anything ever did happen to me or my family and friends, it's His faithfulness that will get us all through and protect everyone. How amazing is that?!

Now don't get me wrong, we will have trouble in this world. Our world is broken and in desperate need of saving so it's only likely that trouble will occur at some point or another. But knowing that His faithfulness is what protects me and is my shield and rampart gives me great assurance and comfort.

We serve an amazing God who is faithful. He gives us all that we need and loves us with a love that none of us can comphrehend. So whether or not trouble comes along in the form of financial trouble, a rude co-worker, persecution or a time of loss and sadness, know that He is faithful and will always be your shield. Just like a shepard leading his sheep, so our Lord is our great Shepard Who goes ahead of us and watches out for our safety. And no matter what, He will never leave us nor forsake us. (Hebrews 13:5)

Thank you Heavenly Father for your faithfulness!

Happy Advent season and Merry Christmas!

May God bless you all!
~Gretchen

Gift of Marriage

Marriage is something that God gives as a gift to His children and is to be a reflection of the Trinity. I've been thinking about the gift of marriage lately and how beautiful it is when the true design of it is lived out the way God intended it to be.

I was thrilled today when I went to church and saw that the sermon was on marriage! We read Ephesians 5:21-33 and our Pastor talked about the ways in which marriages are supposed to reflect Christ's love for His Church. It's a sacrificial love that is so amazing, no one can fathom "how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ." (Ephesians 3:18)

One of the points that our pastor talked about was submission. Now I know how sensitive this subject can be but before you stop reading please hear me out. I too believe in submission in a marriage, "wives are to submit to their husbands," but I don't believe that this gives a husband permission to dominate or justify abuse. My pastor did not believe in that either. Submission is not weak, it is strong. Did you know the definition of submission actually means to yield to? It's not to be stepped on or walked all over, it is something that one does out of love for the other.

I read something one time that helped me see the area of submission more clearly. I can't rememeber who it was exactly that touched upon this area but consider this: Christ submitted to the Father. Was Christ weak? No way! Christ is the most powerful and loving Man in all eternity, yet He submitted Himself to God's will! Before He went to the cross Christ prayed in the garden of Gethsemane that there would be another way for salvation to come but He didn't want His will to be done, He wanted God's will.

What if Christ didn't submit to the cross? What if He chose another way? What would have happened to us? His submission meant salvation for us all. That act of submission was more powerful than anything ever imagined!

After reading about submission in that light my whole view of this controversial subject was radically changed.

My pastor also touched upon how the Trinity is something that marriage should point to or reflect. Just like there is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in a similar fashion Christ is the head of the the marriage and the husband is the head of the wife. (Christ of course is still head of both the man and wife though just as God is the head of Christ but I am also pointing to what Paul said in Ephesians 5:23.) Some people cringe at the word "head" and I can understand why. But as my pastor pointed out it does not mean superior or better, it just means to lead. Men are to be the leaders in marriage.

Marriage is a gift from God. When a marriage is seen in light of God's design then that relationship is a blessing towards others so that they too can see the beauty and gift of His divine design.

I understand that not everyone will agree with this view but I pray that they take the time to seek the Scriptures, ask God about His design for marriage and talk to a mature and experienced pastor. God is faithful and He will show you!

I hope you all were blessed by this message because I know that when I heard it this morning I too felt very blessed and encouraged.

May God bless you all!
~Gretchen

Perfectionism, Law, Grace

I realized something profound yesterday as I came home from an exhausting midterm that left me frustrated. I studied so hard for this midterm, wrote out the essay's beforehand and even tried to memorize key points I would write about in each essay. But I still did not finish my midterm on time nor did I allow myself any wiggle room for creative thinking during the test. Needless to say I was sad, somewhat angry at myself and oh so frustrated with my answers!

I got home, kneeled down by my bed and tried not to let the tears of disappointment (failure even) flow down my cheeks. Yet they came anyways and so did the realization in prayer that I was a perfectionist. My broken ego wanted to scream that it was so unfair and I tried so hard and studied so long! But that still small Voice interrupted my pity party to say "let go."

Let go of the control, let go of that need to be perfect! Do you really think that a possible C (or even a D) on a test will affect who you are as a person?

This only made me cry even more! You see I was so concerned with the results that I failed to see that not matter what grade I got, I tried! I gave it my best and I studied hard. But I didn't need to worry about whether or not the grade is a B or even a C. As Derek Prince once said...

"God is more concerned with our character than with our achievements. Achievements have importance only in the realm of time, character is eternal. It determines what we will be through eternity."

It was this quote hanging on my mirror that spoke to me loud and clear.

"Let go of perfectionism!"

I've been trying to really live out the verse I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The
life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God,
Galatians 2:20

Jesus never strived for an A in a literature course and He certainly didn't even have time to take a course in literature. No! He lived for God's Kingdom and helped others with compassion and love. So while I finish my education I know that a B or a C won't actually mean anything other than an achievement that matters in the realm of time. Also I've learned that perfectionism is another illusion. (Something I've been saying over and over again; I just needed more time to truly understand that it pertains to perfectionism as well.) Don't get ne wrong, education and good grades are amazing things! It's when we take those things to the extreme and believe the lie that we need to be perfect and be ahead of everybody else in order to be somebody that it turns into not so good and amazing things.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in
all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Provers 3:5-6

Trying hard and being perfect are two very different things. I'm still learning this and need that still small Voice to remind me but I know that with God all things are possible! Matthew 19:26

Perfectionism is the law and I don't want to live in the law; I want Christ to live in me and I praise God that each day I see Him working and living in me by grace! When I allow Jesus Christ to live in my imperfection and brokenness, then and only then will I find true joy, peace and love through His grace and not the law! Let's continue to allow God to use our imperfections for His good purpose. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

None of us are perfect, only Jesus Christ and the Lord our God is completely perfect and our imperfectionism is exactly what they are looking to use to glorify our loving Father! So in a way I'm actually glad I didn't buy into the illusion yesterday because if not for my own failure I would not have noticed Christ's amazing accomplishment already given to me (to all of us) by grace!

May God bless you all!
~Gretchen

Article on Unity

The posts have been lacking lately due to classes and events but I will be posting again soon. For now I wanted to share with you an article I enjoyed that I read on the blog/online ministry Visionary Womanhood.

Finding Unity in Submission

I hope you enjoy the article; please let me know what you think of it!

May God bless you all!
~Gretchen

key ingredient to beating anxiety... three

...to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. Isaiah 61:3

crown of beauty...

oil of joy...

garment of praise...

Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name.

The next key ingredient to beating anxiety is praise! Praising the Lord is a unique and powerful way that can bring about happiness and peace. Praising God is something that King David always did; Paul also wrote to the churches and encouraged believers to give thanks or pray for the the Lord always.

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Philippians 4:6

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. Colossians 3:17

We see Paul exhort believers to rejoice, give thanks, praise and sing songs to God. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 we see Paul repeat himself to rejoice. Other verses where Paul tells us to rejoice include (and are not limited to) Ephesians 5:19-20, 2 Corinthians 13:12, and Philippians 4:8.

First and foremost we are to praise God because it is showing our love and service to Him. We are able to let Him know how amazing He is and how thankful we are for His compassion, kindness and love for us. But I also believe that praising God chases away all of our worries. When we praise God our minds are focused on praise and not worry. In fact the enemy and evil flee at the sound of rejoicing. It is a way to resist the evil one and pursue God wholeheartedly. (James 4:7)

God can also speak to us during praise. How amazing is it that God chooses to speak to us while we are praising Him!

So remember to praise God; even when our natural inclination is to grumble or complain, choose instead to praise. If you replace praising God every time you feel like complaining or worrying then only good things can come. It's not always easy and it may seem to have no effect at first; but its more effective than we can fathom! It's a way to give our thanks to Father God.

May God bless you all!
~Gretchen